


Mama

by VeniVediVici



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-10
Updated: 2013-08-10
Packaged: 2017-12-23 01:23:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,931
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/920352
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VeniVediVici/pseuds/VeniVediVici
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Belle becomes a mother. Disclaimer: This is not taken from anyone else's work, nor is it inspired directly by anyone's work. I've been accused a couple times of "stealing" a plot from other works.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mama

It had been happening for a while now: nausea, inability to eat much of anything and a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach. It didn’t make sense when you were Belle French, possibly the most sensible, knowledgeable woman in all of Storybrooke. So that’s what she turned to when several weeks of these strange symptoms kept occurring: knowledge. When Rumple wasn’t looking, she would take down three; four books at a time about illnesses of the stomach—stomach viruses, the flu—and sit in the large easy chair in Rumple’s second office—her unofficial library—and pore through the pages, looking for something, anything that would explain why she felt awful half the day.

Chamomile tea and non-salted saltines were the only things that would keep her stomach from upheaving what little she managed to keep down. She tried to keep Rumplestiltskin from realizing that something was wrong with her. That was an incredibly difficult task. He had eyes like a hawk, especially where she was concerned. Every evening he would make a beautiful dinner drenched in sauces and lovely side dishes, and he would watch her out of the corner of his eye, making sure that she ate every last bit of her dinner. Oh, those times were the absolute worst. Her stomach would roil and bubble with extreme nausea as Belle forced herself to clean her plate of its contents. Somehow she managed to keep it down until later on when Rumple took his shower at its usual time. Her poor stomach could not handle the rich food or barely anything at all these days. Something was seriously wrong with her these days. 

Despite the little amount of food she was eating, Belle found that she was gaining weight. Her fitted dressed that usually showed how slim her waist actually was, were beginning to tighten…at the waist. It didn’t make sense. Sometimes Belle would stand in front of the floor-length mirror in her and Rumple’s bedroom after showing or before dressing for the day, twisting and turning and marveling at how her body had filled out. For goodness sake, even her cheeks were beginning to have a little fat on them.

“Belle, darling, are you sure you’re all right?” Gold asked one night as they were preparing for bed. It had only been a few weeks since her body had begun to mysteriously change and just after she’d noticed that she was beginning to get a little bit of a belly. She glanced up at Rumple, and felt a flush course through her body. Rumplestiltskin was desirable every day of the year; there was no question about that, but for some reason, tonight was different. He was dressed no differently than usual: a dark t-shirt and loose-fitting pajama pants, but the way his pants were fitting on his lean frame that had Belle’s heart racing and pulse jumping. “Belle? You’re staring at me like a wanton woman, Belle.” He chuckled.

“Well, I am a woman, Rumple.” Belle said, crawling on the bed. Tonight she was glad she’d worn a shift and little else. She wantedRumplestiltskin and she wouldn’t stop until she got what she wanted. 

“Belle, what’s the matter? You’re acting very strange.” He said this as he reciprocated Belle’s movements. Gold sighed against Belle’s lips, enjoying the boost of electricity that was coursing between their lips; his hands began their usual decent down Belle’s sides, swirling his fingers in soothing circles. It was only when his hands began to make their way to her front that her body stiffened and without warning, shoved Rumplestiltskin away from her. 

“No, please! You can’t touch me!” She said, trying to calm down her rising emotions. 

“Belle? Belle, darling, what’s the matter?” Gold tried to get close to Belle, but she just curled tighter into a ball. Everything was going wrong, and it was clearly hurting Rumplestiltskin that she was behaving strangely. His eyes were wide; his lower lip was quivering with emotion. It reminded Belle in that lucid distant corner of her mind of that moment when she’d questioned who he was; both the time just before he brought back magic to Storybrooke and when she’d been shot at the town line. He was trying desperately to make sure that he didn’t show Belle just how much she’d inadvertently hurt him. “Belle,” He said, leaning back against the headboard, a safe distance away. “Sweetheart, please tell me what’s wrong. I can’t help you if I don’t know what’s wrong.”

“It’s nothing, Rumple, really. I’m just not feeling very good lately.” She scooted over to lean against his chest, hoping that he wouldn’t notice her slight weight gain. It wasn’t that Rumplestiltskin wouldn’t love those few extra pounds. She was just feeling self-conscious that she couldn’t fit into the pretty dresses he’d bought her anymore. 

His arms wrapped tightly around her. “Oh, Belle, I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”

“It’s okay.” She murmured, suddenly feeling incredibly exhausted all of a sudden. 

“Perhaps you should go see a doctor. He might tell you if it’s anything serious.”

“Yeah,” She sighed as she fell into a deep sleep. Belle completely forgot about the gnawing feeling that something was drastically about to change. 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The next morning, Belle found herself sitting nervously in a plastic chair in the waiting room of Storybrooke General. If only there was some kind of doctor outside of the hospital that she could go to. The hospital gave her weird feelings, not all good. In fact, they were actually quite bad. Her stays in the hospital had not been pleasant to say the least. Being locked in a cell for twenty-eight years and having sharp needles jabbed into your arm every time you felt overwhelmed had given her a horrible fear of hospitals and nervousness. 

But Rumple had insisted that she go see Dr. Whale, at least, to figure out what was wrong with her; she knew that the idea was completely preposterous, but she wondered if Rumple’s wanting her to see Dr. Whale had something to do with her Storybrooke counterpart’s history of being locked into an asylum. She could see that. He worried that her most recent time spent in the hospital had given her nightmares or what have you, and this was how he was showing it…right? Belle let out a deep sigh, her hands darted out to play with the hem of her dress. This one still fit; unlike the close-fitted dresses she’d been so fond of wearing, this dress had an empire waist, which allowed her to breathe while still looking decent.

“Belle?” Dr. Whale smiled from the doorway to the secret labyrinth as she called it; the twisting maze of hallways and examination rooms that only doctors and nurses seemed to be able to figure out. “Are you ready?”

It’s okay, she was fine. Dr. Whale was Ruby’s friend, though how this had happened, she had no idea. Oh, that’s right. The accident. Ruby had been there for him when no one else was. That must’ve been nice for him, she thought, feeling slightly bitter as she rose and made her way over to Dr. Whale. Belle remembered everything that had happened during her latest stay in the hospital, and Rumple was right in one respect: she was bitterer than she had ever been in her entire life, and only towards the people who had been friendly to her just hours before that happened. She didn’t blame Rumple for not staying by her side. The way she’d reacted to him after being shot was cause enough for him to stay away. But not only that, he had to find his son, and he did. Neal Cassidy, the man who’d fallen in love with Emma the Savior. He was handsome, Belle had to admit, and was clearly Rumple’s son. He had Rumple’s kind brown eyes, and smile that shone with the shining soul within.

“Belle, how are you feeling today?” Dr. Whale asked as he shut the door to the examination room. She hesitantly hopped up onto the table, cringing inwardly at the crinkling paper beneath her bottom. 

“I’m not crazy, if that’s what you’re asking.”

“No, uh, that’s not what I was asking. I was attempting to see why you’ve come to see me today.” He nervously chuckled; his fear of her significant other was well known, especially given the threat that Rumple had made shortly before leaving town. Just because he was back didn’t mean that he wouldn’t hesitate to make good on it.

“Oh, well…lately I’ve been getting sick a lot. Odd times of the day, and…I gained a couple of pounds. It’s not enough for Rumple to notice, but I can. And I just feel tired and strange overall.”

Dr. Whale’s eyes widened, and immediately Belle’s heart began to race again. What was the matter with her? Surely she wasn’t sick or dying; that would devastate Rumplestiltskin, despite having his son back with him. Oh god, what was she going to do? She let her head fall into her hands. 

“Belle, um, I think I know what’s wrong with you.”

“I’m dying, aren’t I?”

“No, you’re actually—”

“Rumple will die if he learns I’m dying!” She cried, leaning forward a little; Whale backed away from her, obviously unsure of how to proceed. “What will he do, Dr. Whale? What will he do without me?”

“You’re not dying, Belle.” Whale blurted out.

“I’m not?”

He smiled a happy, genuine smile that held some relief. “No, you’re not. Far from it, in fact. You’re going to have a baby, I believe.”

“A baby?” Belle cried, hand stealing to her stomach as if to feel the tiny life within her. “How can you be sure?”

“Well, we’ll have to do some tests, you know, check to see how far along you are. But the things you listed are indeed general symptoms of being pregnant.”

Tears started to well up in Belle’s eyes, threatening to overflow. She was most likely having Rumplestiltskin’s child, a little baby that they would love and cherish with every ounce of their being. It was too good to be true. Nothing good lasted in Storybrooke for very long. There was too much evil and hatred and grudges here to let anything good live. But somehow, she and Rumple had managed to create some good.

“Thank you, Dr. Whale.”

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

An hour and a half later saw Belle emerging from the hospital, beaming away like the sun had been absorbed into her body. The tests had confirmed that she was pregnant, about three months along judging from the magic wand that had rubbed her stomach. It was truly magic in there, after all; she’d just been in the wrong wing the whole time. Whale had given her a prescription for pre-natal vitamins that were supposed to help the baby and keep it healthy before it was born. Everything was progressing normally, and she couldn’t be happier.

Now she just had to tell Rumple about their little one. And Neal, too. Oh, Neal…she’d completely forgotten what it might mean to Neal, her having his father’s baby and all. He might think she was trying to replace him. After all, she’d gotten pregnant a little bit before she’d been shot. Oh, he might think that his father had decided that it was too much effort to be bothered to look for him. What was she supposed to do now? If Neal—Bae—wasn’t happy about having a new half-brother or sister, what was Rumple supposed to do? Sure, she was his True Love and mother to his second child, but Bae was the reason that everything had happened. He was the catalyst for everyone being ripped into this strange world and left stranded. 

What would Rumple say about this? What if he wasn’t happy about the baby?

Belle’s thoughts were plagued with doubt and worries about the baby and Rumplestiltskin and Bae throughout the entire day. She could hardly go five minutes without thinking that she was going to be ruining the family dynamic they’d had going for them in the past few weeks. What if Rumple didn’t want to risk losing another child like he’d almost lost Bae? Or another love, for that matter. True, Milah hadn’t been Rumple’s True Love, but she’d held a place in his heart at one point. That was not to be overlooked. She had been trying to act like a good step-mother to Neal, but he, being years older than fourteen made it a bit difficult. Not to mention that he had a child of his own. How that all made sense, Belle wasn’t sure. Her mind had been frazzled ever since entering the hospital, and learning she was pregnant wasn’t helping anything at all.

She made it through the day, barely able to keep her eyes open out of sheer exhaustion. She’d worried everything over in her mind a hundred times, and telling Rumple, and Bae, of course, didn’t seem any easier than it had four hours ago. But Belle managed to drag herself into her and Rumple’s house, collapsing onto the couch with a quiet moan. 

“Oh, little one, why are you making my body hate me?”

Belle didn’t fight the overwhelming need to sleep. Her body was just too tired to stay awake any longer.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Belle’s stomach was growling painfully, and that’s what woke her up. That and the whispers of her True Love. She kept her eyes closed as she attempted to wrap her mind around why she was suddenly in her and Rumple’s bed with his hands clasping her left hand tightly. And then she remembered being bone tired and falling asleep on the couch. 

“Belle?” Rumple’s voice was bleeding concern and fear for his petite beloved. “Belle, sweetheart, are you awake?”

“Yes,” She murmured, opening her eyes and attempting to reassure him with a smile. “I’m awake, and okay.”

“Oh, you scared me. You were on the couch. I couldn’t wake you up.”

“How did I get here?” Belle sat up while still keeping her hand in Rumplestiltskin’s grip. He seemed to need the support at the moment. He’d almost lost her too many times. 

“I, uh, I called Bae. I couldn’t bring you to bed myself, so he did. He’s still downstairs.” Rumple said, looking self-conscious that he had to rely on his grown son to help with something that he felt he should be able to do himself.

“Really? Because, uh, I have something I need to tell you both.”

Gold’s eyes clouded over; his jaw muscles visibly tightened as he prepared himself. “What is it, Belle?”

“Rumple, look at me,” She took her free hand and tilted his face to look at her. “I’m having your baby, Rumple. I’m pregnant.”

“Pregnant?” He breathed, expression filled with awe and shock. “With my…but how?”

“Oh, Rumple, you should know how.” Belle laughed, feeling the tears threaten to spill over again. She was just too happy right now. She had Rumplestiltskin, her precious little one, and even Bae. 

“Yes, yes, but uh, how far along are you?”

“Three months, or so the doctor said.”

“You went to the hospital without me? You saw the baby without me?”

“Rumple,” Belle took his hands in hers and placed them at her waist. “I didn’t know. I went to the doctor to find out why I was getting sick and gaining a little weight. He told me and looked at the baby to be sure. I didn’t mean to do it without you. I never intended for that to happen, it just did.”

He nodded, apparently all right with her explanation.

“I have the picture in my book bag downstairs. We can look at it if you’d like.”

He nodded again, smiling like she’d never seen him do before. Rumple looked so happy, so at peace with the world at the moment. It was a beautiful sight.

“She’s pregnant?” They both turned to see Neal standing at the door, holding something balled up in his hands. His expression was unreadable, so Belle couldn’t tell if he was happy or angry with the news.

“Yes, Bae, she is.” Gold rose from the chair he’d been sitting in and faced Neal with no fear. His son’s opinion meant the world to him, but when it came to Belle, well…he wouldn’t listen to anyone’s opinion of their relationship.

“I have something to give her.” Neal crossed the room and pressed what he’d been holding in his hands into Belle’s. It was his golden yellow shawl that Rumple had once held him in. “It’s for the baby. I was pretty sure you were pregnant when I saw you last week. I was just waiting for you to tell papa so I could give it to the both of you. You can hold the baby in the shawl, too. Like I was.”

Belle immediately took Bae into her arms because he was in the moment an incredibly sweet, thoughtful, extraordinary person, so Bae. He was her son just as much as this new baby would be her child. He wrapped his arms around her petite frame too, and whispered something she couldn’t make out in the crook of her neck. It must have been something very special because tears began to run down Rumplestiltskin’s cheeks and he never cried. She would do this baby right, and Bae as well. The fight may be far from over, but she wouldn’t give up on her family. Because she was, unequivocally…

 

Mama.


End file.
